Breathe
by marvelnerd2981
Summary: A new quest brings out bottled up feelings. You can't hide from true love, right? Please review! :)
1. Chapter 1

Clarisse's POV  
The bonfires flames roared intensely, glowing fiercely and giving my hair a coppery shine. However, despite the blasting heat, the mood at Camp Half Blood was bubbly and carefree. The campers stood in a circle as a few at a time danced and laughed in the center. The rest of us clapped to an unspoken rhythm, and for once in a long time, everyone was enjoying themselves. Even I smiled and clapped despite myself. The cool air mixed with the fires heat in a happy blur, and the oxygen around us seemed alive with laughter and song.

I watched as another random group of campers joined the center, taking the places of the previous. They found their ways to other random campers, and soon I found myself looking up into the green eyes of Percy Jackson. I rolled my own eyes, but he flashed a boyish smile, and I couldn't help but laugh as we switched places. As we did, he drew close enough to be audible.  
"You should smile more often, Clarisse." He gave a tiny grin and kept clapping. I was shocked, but shook myself out of it quickly. As I turned to find another camper to take my place, a hush fell. Chiron was standing in the center with us, raising his hands for quiet.

"Percy Jackson, Clarisse La Rue, Grover Underwood, and Annabeth Chase. Please come with me."

Percy's POV  
The four of us trailed behind Chiron, struggling to think of what could possibly be happening. The air that had felt so joyous before now seemed tense. Chiron led us into the Big House, where Mr. D was waiting. My stomach turned a bit in disgust.

"We are sorry to have to pull you from the bonfire." Chiron began, even though Mr. D didn't look apologetic at all. "But we have an urgent matter that only you four, our best heroes, can take on."  
Beside me, Grover swelled with pride, but I noticed Annabeth shoot a nasty look in Clarisse's direction. I shifted uncomfortably and turned my attention back to Chiron.

"We found what looks like an old trap, set to kill demigods. We don't know who made it, or how many half bloods have fallen prey to it, but thanks to the odd location, we doubt it was too many. We need you four to go and make sure it doesn't kill anyone else." Chiron explained.

"So you're sending us to take out something that's programmed to kill us?" Grover asked, a bit wary.  
"Wouldn't be the first time." Clarisse said with a smirk. Annabeth rolled her eyes and piped up.  
"So where is this thing?" She said impatiently.  
"Ah, thank you for asking, Annabeth. Its just offshore on a beach about 30 miles from here. The beach is located in a tourism town that is popular for vacationing."

I immediately felt relief wash over me. It was in the ocean. However, I didn't see my own relief reflected on Clarisse's face. Was it just me or was that a bit of fear in her expression?

"I'll leave you alone to settle things out." Chiron said, and after catching my eye with a little nod, he and Mr. D left the room, arguing about pinochle.

Not even seconds after they were out of earshot, Annabeth spoke.

"Are we really taking her with us?" She cried, quickly turning to Clarisse and then back to me. Her exclamation took me by surprise, and before I could speak, Clarisse defended herself.

"Hey, remember how Chiron said that WE were the best heroes at camp!? WE implying ME too."

"It's so funny how you're talking to me like you're my equal!" Annabeth said with a voice like cold snake venom. I was shocked she would say something so mean, so pompous.

"Yeah, it is funny. People don't usually talk to ants before they STEP on them." Clarisse had a look of pure hate on her face, and she took a threatening step towards Annabeth.

"GUYS! What the hell?!" I jumped in between them and held them apart with my hands. Clarisse wrenched away from my touch angrily, anger now mixing with a look of hurt.

"GO AHEAD! Defend her like you ALWAYS do, Jackson! Princess Annabeth is never in the wrong, oh, NO! It's always ME who's the bad guy, me who gets blamed." She spun around so fast her ponytail hit Grover in the face, and I watched in silence as she walked away. Her words rang in my ears as I turned to Annabeth.

"What was all that about?!" I cried. She folded her arms and gave a defiant look.

"I'm trying to make sure the mission goes well-"

"Yeah, you did a great job of that, Annabeth! She's gotten a lot better than when we first met!" Annabeth reeled back as if I had just insisted that Hades was a cheerful guy.

"She is INSANE, Percy! Did you see the way she threatened me!"

"No, Annabeth. This wasn't her fault, she was defending herself like anyone would!"

"And now you're defending her! She isn't worth it Percy!" Annabeth finished with conviction. I walked backwards, shaking my head in disbelief.

"You don't get it do you?" With that, I stormed out the same direction Clarisse had.


	2. Chapter 2

Clarisse's POV

I stayed in the shadows as Percy huffed past me. As he disappeared into the dark, night air, I leaned against the side of the Big House and squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to let tears fall. I reflected back on the conversation I'd just heard and a lump rose in my throat. Annabeth was right, I wasn't worth it. I desperately looked around, looking for somewhere to go. I couldn't go back to the Ares cabin, not on the verge of tears. Instead, I ran to the woods and found a tree fort I'd built in my first few weeks at Camp. Back then, I had been alone, friendless, worthless, and now, so many years later, I was the same way.

As I lay down on the floor of the fort, which was really just a few boards supported in a tree, and pressed my cheek against the cold wooden platform, I thought about Percy. I knew that having feelings for him were pointless, but as usual, my heart was against me. What he had said at the bonfire earlier flashed in my brain, and my stomach gave a flutter.

Oh my gods. I was NOT going to be one of THOSE girls. I rolled over on my back, cursing and berating myself mentally. The butterflies in my stomach were replaced with reluctant but steely resolve: I would not be another girl fawning over Percy Jackson. I forced him and his big green eyes out of my mind, where my thoughts fell to another troubling matter: the quest I was going on. I had to go to the ocean. Another thing I had been hiding, along with my feelings for a certain son of Poseidon, were my fears. I had lived in camp my whole life, and I didn't mind leaving it for the occasion quest, but where we were going was completely different. For one, it would be the ocean, something I was okay to sail on but terrified to drown in. And second, I would be surrounded by people, and lots of them. Not my fellow campers, who were like my family, but with new strangers, in a crowded town. It was so different from what I was used to and how I grew up. The thought of facing my fears AND Percy was too much to bear.

More tears threatened to fall and I hated myself with every second that my eyes burned. Annabeth was right, as per usual. I wasn't worth it. I was nothing but a failure.

Percys POV

I lay awake in my cabin. The ocean crashed outside, a comforting sound to my turning stomach and confused emotions. I wanted to go to Clarisse, I wanted to tell her that I knew she wasn't a bad person, that she WAS worth it. The hurt in her face was haunting me, and I felt like crying when I remembered that I caused it.

It shocked me how much I felt for Clarisse. Being around her was like falling through the air: my stomach would flip flop, I'd lose track of time, I would be terrified by the lack of control I felt, but at the same time exhilarated.

* * *

The morning came way too soon. The air was cold, my muscles ached, and there was an atmosphere of tension that seemed to envelope me and seep into my pores. Overall, I didn't feel super cheerful.

After I dragged myself out of bed and gathered my thoughts for a moment, memories from the night before came flooding back to me. I ran my fingers through my black hair in exasperation and regret. My head and thoughts still clouded, I decided to take a walk down the beach.

The water foaming around my ankles didn't calm me like usual. Everything felt overwhelming, like it was slowly crushing me to death. It took great effort just to breathe and think straight. I sighed in defeat and got up, walking back towards my cabin to prepare for the quest.

When I arrived next to the Big House, the sun was rising more and a cool wind blew. The breeze picked up the saltiness of the ocean and the sweet tartness of the strawberry fields, but despite the pleasant change of the morning, I was still confused and wary.

After dodging a lot of questions from Grover, I studied Annabeth. She had a determined, slightly pompous expression on her face, but at least she wasn't harping on last night. Her hair was perfectly braided and she looked well rested. It looked as if unlike me, she hadn't lost any sleep over what had happened with Clarisse.

Just as the daughter of Ares crossed my mind, she strode into view, a backpack slung over her shoulder. I noticed something different about her: her walk didn't contain its usual bouncy swagger. She looked exhausted and her eyes were red from... Crying? The thought was absurd. Still, after seeing how she looked after the spat last night, I realized I didn't find it so far fetched after all.

Shaking off Clarisse's disturbingly frail appearance, I snapped back to reality. Argus approached us, car keys in hand, and I took what I hoped would be a calming breath. However, my brain was burning me to talk to Clarisse, and hope that like Annabeth, she had gotten over last night.


	3. Chapter 3

Clarisse's POV

I sunk myself into the passenger seat and watched in the rearview mirror as Annabeth wedged in next to Percy. Rolling my eyes, I pretended like it didn't bother me. As the car started rumbling away from camp, I leaned against the headrest and forced all of my leftover feelings into a tiny corner of my mind. If I ignored them, they'd go away. Right?

* * *

The town we pulled into, Hazy Point, immediately put me on edge. There was an over abundance of cookie cutter vacation houses, the kind with huge, ocean view windows and three stories that I used to hopelessly dream about staying in when I was little. Quaint shopping centers with mom and pop pizza shops and frozen yogurt parlors dotted the area, along with a sandy seashore stretching endlessly on the left of us.  
Every square inch of it made me sick.

Despite the lazy appearance of the town, the road that webbed through it was anything but. Cars drove much too fast, making pedestrians play a guessing game of "Will We Be Roadkill Or Not."

Our car pulled over to the sidewalk, and I groaned and slammed the back of my head into the seat before getting out and shutting the door with more force than necessary. I watched as Argus pulled away to who knows where and took a deep breath. I was stuck in this hellhole now.

We started walking down to the seashore, crossing streets in a hurry. Screw jaywalking, the faster I got out of this place the better, and right about now I didn't have the patience to wait for the little man to blink on the sign.

As we were crossing one crosswalk, a car zipped by me, too close for comfort. I jumped about a foot in the air and quickly shook it off, but as I reached the other sidewalk, my head started spinning. I stopped where I was, frozen, overwhelmed suddenly by everything around me.

I felt a warm hand around my wrist. Percy was standing over me, his grip gentle and comforting. My heart dropped into my stomach but my breathing steadied, and my head grew clearer. His eyebrows were raised concernedly, and I gave a weak, hesitant nod before forcing myself to tear away from his grip. As I walked away, my legs felt like they were unattached to the rest of my body. My brain was at war with itself, one half screaming and aching to turn and walk back to him, but the other half forced my muscles into movement.

Grains of sand danced around my feet as the soles of my shoes sunk and dug themselves out. Even I had to admit, the water looked peaceful and harmless. This wasn't going to be so bad, I assured myself. Confidence regained, I looked to the others.

Percy stepped into the water, closing his eyes and concentrating. I caught myself admiring how at ease he seemed, like the water peeled away all the troubles he had and replaced them with pure serenity. He motioned us towards him and pointed, without opening his eyes, towards a random spot of ocean.

"Congratulations, you found water!" It felt good to hear the sarcasm in my voice again. It was time to get back to being Clarisse, the tough daughter of Ares with a vicious right hook and an even meaner attitude. No son of Poseidon was going to change me.

Percy turned towards me with an expression that was half playful and half... Something else more intense. It wasn't angry or hurt, more like he was trying to understand me with just a glance.

"Very funny. Anyways, there's something there that shouldn't be." With that, he moved towards where he had pointed. The water was cold, but I charged in after him anyway. The three of us swam in the same direction, Grover with big awkward strokes and Annabeth with what looked like a frantic doggy paddle. I desperately fought the urge to laugh. By the time we had caught up with Percy, a small hill led up to a point where I could stand with the water lapping at my chin.

"Ok, Perce, you got us here. Now where is the thing?" Grover cried with halted breaths. I felt a small pang of sympathy, after all, swimming with goat legs and hooves must be near impossible.

"It's around here somewhere, I swear. I felt something weird, I can't explain it." He frowned. "It's like... It's like it's right below-" Suddenly, the sand under my feet swirled away, giving out and opening into a swirling vortex.

I screamed for a split second before I was pulled underwater and into a round pipe on the ocean floor. Incredible suction pulled me closer into the churning blackness. It reminded me painfully of Charybdis, and I struggled to find something to hold onto. My lungs burned for oxygen as I managed to grab onto the edge of the hole. I heard nothing but the waves rushing above my head as I thrashed around. A rock sliced my palm, and scarlet eerily wafted upwards from my hand. I cringed at the deep cut and the stinging pain of the salt water, and fought desperately against the suction of the pipe. Everything looked so peaceful and blue, but my mind was racing.

The murkiness parted as Percy swam towards me. I desperately clung on as what little oxygen I held in my lungs escaped in tiny bubbles, merrily and ironically dancing towards the air above. My head started pounding and I barely saw Percy, but somehow, he kept swimming to me. He seemed unaffected by the suction and a determined and terrified look filled his eyes.

Lights popped in my brain and salt water burned my nose and throat. Weakened and on the verge of drowning, my fingers let go of the edge. I almost didn't notice that the Charybdis like hole had stopped pulling me towards it, and just as black started invading my vision, a strong arm wrapped around my waist and pushed off the now calm ocean floor. Everything blurred and my eyes fluttered shut. I was going to die.

Percy pushed me above the waves, and I felt myself spasm. The oxygen was like icy knives against my skin, but the pain was welcome. Air filled my lungs, and with a gasp, my eyes sprung open. Spluttering and terrified, for once I let tears fall when they wanted to.

My limbs felt tingly and my throat burned with every blessed breath. My vision focused and I found what I was looking for. I threw my shivering arms around Percy's neck, coughing and sobbing. I clung to him like he was the only thing that kept me alive. In all reality, he was, and had been for a long time, but right now, I was finally ready to start showing it.

Percy's POV

I used my powers to dry Clarisse and myself as Annabeth and Grover stayed behind in the water to finish off... Whatever it was. As I made my way out of the ocean, I felt Clarisse's already weak and trembling form go limp with unconsciousness. I noticed my arms were shaking as I carried her. We reached the shore and I lay her down on the sand.

I had never felt fear like I had when I saw her get sucked under water. Now, watching her lay motionless on the beach, the pit of fear in my stomach multiplied like a virus. I had never seen her look so vulnerable. I took her hand and squeezed it, needing to reassure myself that she was here next to me, still breathing.

Silent minutes ticked by, my insides turning with every second, but finally, her eyes opened. She propped herself up on her side, letting go of my hand in the process, and coughed violently. It was a painful, scratchy sound. When there was no more water left in her lungs, she slowly sat up.

I knew the best thing for her was to let her body reboot on its own accord, so I sat by and watched as she gradually got some strength back.

"What the hell?" Those were the first words she spoke. Her voice was strained and slightly breathless, but Clarisse attitude was still there, barely. Every inch of me broke apart with relief, and a wide grin split my face.

"Congratulations, you found water." I quoted her. She looked into my eyes and a smile just barely appeared.

"Shut up, Jackson." She said before reaching her hands to the sides of my head and pulling our lips together. I sat shocked for a second before kissing her back, shifting onto my knees to get closer to her.

Kissing Clarisse cleared my mind for the first time in weeks. It opened up my senses, and an blinding wave of happiness swept over me. For once in a long time, I didn't feel overwhelmed by everything. I wrapped my arms around her waist and smiled. After a few more moments, she pulled away.

"Thanks for not letting me die." She said in a small voice.

"I'd be too bored without you to fight with." She rolled her eyes but smirked anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Clarisse's POV

The car ride back to Camp was less enjoyable than it could have been. You try sitting in a car with an angry daughter of Athena for an hour, in complete silence. She was in the front seat with Argus, and Percy was wedged between me and Grover. My angle gave me the perfect view of her pouting. I rolled my eyes and glared out the window.  
To make it worse, my muscles were aching terribly, my head was pounding softly, and I had to watch Percy touch Annabeth's elbow concernedly on a ten minute interval. After the third tap, I glared out the window with such ferocity that I was sure the blue Prius next to us would explode into flames. My anger apparently did not go unnoticed, and Grover bleated nervously. But I held my ground.

I know I should have been happy, but if you've ever had insecurities, you know it is never that easy. The fact that Percy had stopped kissing me the moment Annabeth had come out of the water, and that he hadn't talked to me the entire car ride was weighing heavily.

That's why I was relieved when Thalia's pine came into view. The car kicked up gravel before rolling to a stop. Grover took his leave as soon as possible, running out and shouting something about finding Juniper. I got out too, making sure a little excess force was used whilst shutting the door.

"Percy, can we take a walk?" Annabeth said before she had even shut the passenger side. The question sounded much more like a demand. Percy stole a look at me, too fast for me to see what was in his eyes, and reluctantly walked off with the blond.

"Ugh!" I cried, kicking a rock before stomping to my cabin. The usual rock music was playing, and my siblings cheered when they saw me, but I pushed past all of them. Tears stung my eyes as I grabbed a change of clothing.

* * *

The good part about being a child of Ares is you can cut the heads off of training dummies and no one thinks that it's due to extreme anger and emotional frustration because of a boy. The bad part is that they joke to their friends about how manly I am, or about how my shoulders are broader than other girls'. Yeah, thats right, I hear all the things you say.

The training arena cleared out pretty quickly once I got there. I liked it better that way, I told myself. I heard them all whispering as they stored their weapons and retreated. I tried not to care, because they'll pay later when I kick ass and take names like usual.

There's something soothing to me about seeing my sword flash and feeling it strike its target. With weapons, I felt superior, something rare for me. Maybe I take it too far sometimes, but everyone has those moments.

But today, all my feelings weren't draining out like usual. Something was still there, gnawing at my stomach, an all too common experience nowadays. With a growl, I sliced my blade faster. Fire filled my muscles and limbs, and before I knew it, I was moving faster than I ever have.

One dummy managed to stay intact no matter how I inflicted damage on it. The other remaining figures loomed around me, taunting. Telling me I'm not good enough, and there's nothing I can do about it. My breathing got harsh and ragged, with soft sobs breaking them every now and then. A voice called my name, but my brain didn't let me stop. I hacked at the mannequin relentlessly, like a maniac, until its head came off and I dropped my blade. Shaking, weak, and out of breath for the second time in less than 24 hours, I almost collapsed on spot with all the emotional and mental pain that finally flowed out, mixing with the physical.

Hands laid themselves on my hips, turning me around. I knew from the scent of sea water that it was Percy. His arms wrapped around me tightly and I rested my forehead in the crook of his neck. I shook with sobs that I finally allowed to flow freely. I could feel my tears soaking his t shirt, but he just rubbed circles on my back and murmured "Shhh. It's ok" over and over in a slightly panicked voice.

I don't know how long we stayed there, in the dusty arena with me crying into his chest. But the insane waterfall of emotions eventually slowed to a trickle. My chest stopped heaving with sobs, but neither of us moved away. I could feel his heartbeat under my cheek as he lightly kissed my forehead. He tilted my chin a bit and pressed his lips to mine.  
I leaned into him and squeezed my eyes shut. No more hiding. No more pretending. Right then, all I wanted to do was kiss Percy Jackson, and just breathe.


End file.
